Addressing some of the points you raised above, Drupal might be the "right" answer, as it supports multiple sites sharing the same install, disparate types of content, and it quite easy to write modules which work together for any custom functionality you need.
I can give you a few pointers if you need but 9 servers sounds excessive.
@Emyr
Addressing some of the points you raised above, Drupal might be the "right" answer, as it supports multiple sites sharing the same install, disparate types of content, and it quite easy to write modules which work together for any custom functionality you need.
I can give you a few pointers if you need but 9 servers sounds excessive.
See "Sites made with drupal": http://drupal.org/cases
Also:
http://drupal.org/whitehouse-gov-launches-on-drupal-engages-community
Good luck!